Jar Of Hearts
by TwilightxZelda
Summary: What happens when a normal 15 year old girl travels into Radiant Garden's castle and is attacked by heartless? Her story begins. When she befriends two halves of the same whole and falls in love with them, what happens? What will the Organization 13 do when they find out she owns the heart to keep Kingdom Hearts open forever? Will Sora and the gang die trying to protect the light?
1. DREAM

**Chapter 1: DREAM**

* * *

_"A scattered dream, _

_ that's like a far-off memory..."_

_"A far-off memory,_

_that's like a scattered dream..."_

_ "I want to line the pieces up..._

_yours and mine."_

.

.

.

His voice entered my head from my open and willing ears as his words, I hesitantly, allowed to stick to my heart—the true storage of my most precious memories. But I can't help but just wonder...who was that? Why did he say those things? What did they mean? How is it possible for a stranger in my dream to effect my like this? As thousands of thoughts flood into my head, I separated my eyelids in expectation to see my dreamland but...this wasn't it. My dreams were my sanctuary, the only time where I felt safe and everything went my way as if I were the light in this happy darkness. But in this saddening black pit that surrounds me now, I was nothing but a dark creature as well. I was angled in a position were if I were to land at this exact moment, I'd hit the ground head first. I felt the fabric of my clothes wavering as the warm liquid pushed it aside to allow my body to sink down to the bottom of this large body of water.

A few seconds after my eyes had opened the water shifted my body forward so that my legs were suddenly now moving to be under me and I turned until...my foot landed on something. My knees bent as my other foot made contact with the platform and I stood down for a moment, regaining my balance, then I worked against the water to stand up straight. My head began to turn in different directions so that I could try to find any source of light that I could swim my way up to. It seemed that once my heart starting yearning for light, the ground beneath me reacted to that yearn. Suddenly, at least a hundred white doves emerged from the bottom of my feet and slowly they began to reveal a bright light but my attention was on the birds. I looked around as they swarmed around me and flew off, my eyes on them until they were no longer in sight.

Blinking, my gaze slowly dropped down to the strange surface underneath me that looked like...glass. The image of a boy with brown spiky hair and black clothing was on this glass platform, a weird giant key thing in his hand. Surrounding him were faces of people whom I've never met before but strangely I knew their names. "Sora.." I muttered the brunette's name while I glanced around at the other faces. "Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy." There was only once face left. This girl had long brown hair with green eyes. "..._Hikari_."

**PSSSHHH. **[1]

At the sound of my name the glass had shattered and I fell through, once again sinking more into this dark, endless, pit. I floated down, the area growing darker and darker by the minute and soon nothing but pitch black surrounded me. _Am I...lost?_ The thought caused a sudden light to appear in the shape of a circle just like the other platform, it had faces on them but they were blurry. As I sank down more towards the light I realized in the middle were the brunette boy was, it was my face and I was in the same position as him. As I got even closer to the glass circle, the faces surrounding me began to blur along with myself. Not because the glass was blurring but my vision was. Slowly, I lost consciousness.

* * *

_"HIKARI! YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!"_ It was the same voice as before.

Then there were different voices.

_"I'm sorry! I-I never meant for this to happen__." _[2]

_"You were destined to die. Your heart shall hold the doors to Kingdom Hearts open forever!"_

_"Hey, kid'do, cheer up! I've seen the way Roxy looks at 'ya, let me tell you, he's got it for 'ya. Got it memorized?"_

_"Hikari, Sora has only liked Kairi for a long time but...he treats you the way he treats her. Except he's more...serious about you, I guess. Don't let 'em down."_

_"Darkness...it's the only place you 'nd I will ever know, Kari. Let me help your darkness grow strong."_

_"Sora."_ This time, I spoke._ "I'm really sorry. Both you and Roxas cared for me, and it's hard to choose between you two. I just...I love—..."_

_..._

...That was how my dream ended.

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**[1]: Okay, so I honestly have no clue how glass would sound as it shatters /**

**[2]: These next sentences are different people speaking to her, as if her dream is showing her a glimpse of the future. So expect that.**

**A/N::::;**

**Yay! I did this and I really hope this isn't _too_ boring. I'm pretty horrible with starting stories but I need to do this one. I hope y'all will stick around for more of Jar Of Hearts. The story is planned out and I really like it but I hope you guys will too. **


	2. Dear Past Please Come Again, The Future

**Chapter 2: Goodbye Past, Please Come Again In The Future.**

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_._

_My story begins in the place now known as Radiant Garden. It was the only place I could confidently call my true home._

_But because I felt safe there and I had great friends, doesn't mean I actually belonged there._

_That's why I love to adventure the world, to find my place._

* * *

"Leon, can you _please_ help me?"

The day was beginning to die out in the place once known as Hollow Bastion, light was fading as darkness began to take over the world. It was safe to say that twilight had fallen upon them and not that many people were in the marketplace for they had gone home. Around this time, many of the heartless that invaded this world came out and tried to search for hearts. There were only a few brave people that stood out at this time. That was if they, one, knew how to fight the creatures of darkness, or two, they were with people that knew how to fight them. But even the people that could fight them were inside due to the number of increasing heartless and it got tiring to fight all day everyday. But for now, this world's strongest fighter was in Merlin's home, along with two of his female friends and one of them had a strong yearn to do something.

The brunette man looked down at the girl who had been begging for his help with her request. Yuffie frowned a bit, since she knew that Leon wasn't going to help and if he did it would be a bad idea for their friend. But the ninja knew what their adventurous friend was like—even if she didn't get the help that she seeks, she will still go out and do what she wanted. Knowing this, the raven haired girl moved closer to the brunette female and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to be kind yet help her understand how bad her request was so that she would not suspect anything. "Hey girl, you know that isn't really the safest or smartest thing to do. You've heard what happened last time we went there and, whew, all of us almost lost some limbs." Yuffie removed her hand, causing the other girl to sigh. Hikari knew it was true, and she shouldn't be asking of this, but she really wanted to go and see what was inside.

"Yeah, I know...Sorry." The brunette's head was bowed and her eyelids closed, a light sigh escaped her lips. She felt like a young girl who just got scolded (in the nice way) by her mother and now she felt guilty for even asking. Her gloved hand reached up to push her bangs back, which was a vain action because the hair fell back into place, then she looked back up at Leon and glanced at Yuffie, a smile on her lips. "Well, sorry for bothering you guys!" '_But I'm going to do this with, or without you_' she thought while watching Squall shake his head. "You're not a bother, Hikari." That caused her smile to widen a bit before she walked backwards to the door. "Thanks. Ah, I'm going now. Tell Aerith I'll come by later to go shopping with her." The man nodded his head, as well as his shorter teammate. "Will do."

They watched as her body had slipped outside then the door had shut closed. Hikari, on the outside, stared at the ground with a small frown on her lips. She really wanted to do this and they didn't understand how bad this hurt her. Perhaps her meaning in this life lied in her destination that she wasn't allowed to go to. What if Hikari could really find out what she was born to do within all those computers that was said to be there? Then she thought back to her silent vow when she was talking to her friends. She was going to do this with or without them. That was a bad habit that she carried—trying to do things on her own even if it was dangerous. Letting out a small grunt, Hikari nodded her head and, with determination in her eyes, began to run in the direction of the Castle that lied in the heart of Radiant Garden.

Inside Merlin's house was nothing but silence. Leon had his arms folded over his chest with his eyes closed and Yuffie put both hands on her hips with a look of worry on her expression. The girl's eyes stared at the closed door and she began to bite her lip in concern. Though the gunblade wielder acted cool, she knew he was worried too. Turning her head to the man Yuffie began to speak. "Squall, we should—" Said man was so eager to go after the other, he didn't even care that he had been called his real name, the brunette cut her off and nodded. "—Let's go."

* * *

Well, it definitely was a miracle that she hadn't ran into any heartless on her way to the gloomy alley that led to the castle. Her emerald hues would brighten as she had realized that on the other side of this long path, was the place where her destiny could or could not lie. "Here I come." The brunette breathed before running forward in excitement, not even realizing the swarm of darkness following close behind her. Her clothes always made her appear like she was ready for an adventure, showing her truth. She wore black thigh-high tights with black shoes, making it look like it was apart of the tights and blue short shorts, the white pockets being revealed at both ends of her shorts. That was complemented with grey oversized shirt that cut off just at her waist, the sleeves were short and the shirt hung off a bit on her right shoulder. On that arm was a black fingerless glove that ended a bit farther up her wrist and under that was a tight sleeve that emerged from the glove and ended where her forearm and bicep met then on the left was another black, also fingerless, glove that ended on her mid-bicep.

As she ran, the castle grew more and more visible which only caused her to run faster in anticipation, many 'what if's running through the girl's head. What if this was actually it? What if she had to leave this place? What if she'd never see Leon, Yuffie, Aerith and Cid all behind? No, she'd come back to them somehow. What if she dies? The distance between them slowly closed with every step she took. Running a little more, Hikari came to a stop and bent over, instantly her hands cupped her knees in an attempt to catch her breath from the exercise. Pants were heard coming from her lips and as the green orbs of her eyes looked up, the brunette saw a giant castle before her. Which only meant one thing. She made it without getting a single scratch. A gasp escaped her mouth when she realized this was the exact castle that she wanted to go to, and her body spun to look out into the town from this balcony. Words couldn't even describe how excited she was! The girl proudly folded her arms over her chest and tried to play it cool. "See? And Yuffie was saying that this was going to be dangerous. I'll prove her and Leon wrong." And of course, she spoke too soon.

Now that their prey stopped the creatures had known that this was their chance. The dark shadow on the floor grew closer and closer to the female's body then one, two, four, ten, fifteen heartless had emerged from the shadow and each one swayed back and forth, surrounding the girl. Her smile was kept while she continued to gaze out into the town, then she turned around and saw all the heartless that seemed hungry for her heart. Her breath caught in her lungs in fear at how many had came just for her. Once she managed to get that wavering breath out her breathing had picked up and she tried to back up only to have her arms clutched onto by the shadows, holding her in one spot and vulnerable. "Let go of me!" She shouted and tried to move her arms out of the heartless's hold but they were actually pretty strong. If this really was her time to die, she would not go down without a fight, that was for sure! Struggling even more, green eyes watched as one dark monster leaped forward and attempted to scratch her but Hikari, somehow, managed to get one of her arms free and she pushed the thing aside then making an attempt to run forward but the grip on her arm tightened. Another black creature had jumped forward and swiped it's claws at her, cutting through the skin of her leg with the result of a loud gasp coming from her. The brunette looked down at her injured limb and watched as blood soon began to leak from the wound.

'_What am I going to do?! I can't die now...I can't!_'

Deciding that she had to fight even in this condition, the girl used her injured leg to kick back the monster that cut her and her free hand also reached out and punched another one. But even these actions were not good enough to kill them because all that was happening was they'd fall on their butts then get back up. They began to reach forward and their claws got stuck in her hair so they'd yank it out, hurting her head and taking off some hair. The creature that held onto her arm was tightening it's grip and her arm would grow numb soon. Hikari tried to punch it in the head but the thing wouldn't let go of her and with her back facing the rest, another heartless had it's claws stuck in her hair and yanked out some more hair. A scream finally left her lips at the pain of her hair being pulled violently and the girl began to slump as she looked around. The nest that now surrounded her seemed amused with her pain and that really got her mad. _'Now what? Is this...the end?'_ She was tired just from all this, she wasn't going to stop fighting, but she knew she'd never win this battle and it was rare for anyone to come here so she had no chance of getting help.

"Hikari!"

Again, she spoke too soon.

The heartless that had held her arm vanished the same time her name had been shouted. Said girl stumbled back from the sudden release mixed with the pain in her leg and fell on her butt while emerald hues looked over at something that shone in the ground only to find a throwing star. Yuffie's throwing star. The girl blinked and looked over at the entrance to this balcony, watching in joy as Leon and Yuffie ran to her, the taller man swinging his sword at the heartless in vain because when one would be defeated two more would appear in it's place. Leon cleared an entrance for him and Yuffie to get to her and the two stood in front of their friend. Leon carefully helped Hikari to her feet before glancing around to find an exit for the girl. "Damn. Yuffie, take Hikari inside the castle and to Ansem's Office." The gunblade wielder commanded and the raven haired girl nodded. Fingers were connected as the ninja pulled the injured female with her, both of them running through the only opening that the heartless had and into the castle. As Hikari limped behind Yuffie, she looked back and shouted, "Leon! Please be careful!" And the two disappeared into the giant building.

Once they were inside, both girls began to make their way to the only safe place in this area. "Yuffie. I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have came here but I did." She apologized as the two slowed down a bit and her hands clutched her wound. Both girl's feet came to a stop and the ninja smiled and shook her head as a reassurance. Grabbing onto her shoulders, the older girl pinned the brunette to the wall and she had sank down to her knees. Hikari blinked and watched her head move down until her gaze was at her thigh. The hyper girl had pulled out a potion and a bandage, handing the bottle to her and wrapping the white and long cloth-like material around her thigh to stop the bleeding. "Thank you." Hikari softly spoke and took a sip of the medicine, feeling a bit better. It was silent as the professional fighter wrapped the bandage around her leg and once she was done, the ninja stood with a smile on her lips. "Uh-huh. No problem."

"If you and Leon would not have came back there...I would be dead by now." She whispered before leaning forward in a bow. "Really. Thank you. How did you guys even know I was in trouble?" Hands pulled the bowing girl up into a regular stance and Yuffie smiled at her. "Come on Hikari. We know you better than that. I knew you were going to come here and I suggested that we go after you." Yuffie smirked then added, "And Squall, I've never seen him any more worried, he was quick to answer my suggestion of coming and he rushed here. Even got me to run a little faster just to keep up with him. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw you hurt." That caused a light blush to appear on Hikari's white cheeks. The girl had always admired Leon, to her he was the strongest, coolest, handsomest man that ever lived. "R-Really?" The ninja nodded with a smile to answer her friend.

**THUMP!**

Hikari's eyes widened as she watched her friend get slammed into the wall next to her and a strange metal-like hand was clamped around her throat. The ninja was struggling to escape but the hand lifted her neck higher against the wall to the point where the raven haired girl's feet wasn't even touching the ground. Hikari looked and saw another bigger heartless trying to choke the other girl to death. "YUFFIE!" The brunette shouted and tried to push the monster away from her comrade. Fingers tried to get under the hand and push it away from the girl's neck but she was hurting her fingers. So Hikari tried to push the thing but the heartless remained still. The giant creature simply lifted one of it's hands and slapped the girl which made her fly back and land on the floor. It honestly was a struggle just trying to sit up but she did it and got to her feet, watching her friend slowly die. What should she do? What _can_ she do? "Yuffie! I...Leon! Someone! Please! Help my friend!" The girl desperately cried, thinking of going outside to get the other brunette but she fell to her knees in both emotional and physical pain.

_"Heh, I can help 'ya."_

Her head snapped back and she tried to locate the source of the voice but no one was there. Had she been that desperate that she heard someone? No. From the ground emerged a portal of darkness. She watched as a black boot came out of that portal, followed by a tall and slender body. Once the man fully was out her emerald hues stared at his spiky, bright red hair and the portal had disappeared at his command. A smirk was on his lips as he watched the girl being choked for a while, then his green, amused eyes looked down at the other girl on the floor. With a snap of his fingers weird creatures that sort of resembled heartless appeared out of the floor and flung themselves at the heartless. Within a few moments the strange monsters had killed the heartless, leaving the things surrounding Yuffie's limp body on the ground. "Yuffie." Hikari crawled over to her friend, pushing past the strange monsters and checked for a pulse on the other. She was still alive but just unconscious. A heavy sigh of relief escaped her lips and her eyes closed for a moment until they opened and emerald met emerald. "Thank you very much...ah?"

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" The man had lifted an index finger to his head and tapped his temple, which resulted in a light giggle from the brunette and that resulted in slight confusion from the man named Axel. Hikari nodded her head and smiled at her savior. "Yeah, it stuck to memory. I'm Hikari. Thank you, Axel." She slowly attempted to get to her feet but once she was on them her body felt like collapsing again so she rested the upper half of her body on the wall as the strange monsters stayed in their spots. "Axel? What are those things?" The brunette raised an eyebrow then pointed to the purple and silver creatures. A snap was made by the red head man's fingers and they had disappeared into a ball of darkness which made her gaze move to the man who seemed to control them, if that made any sense? "Well, you see, those are called Nobodies. They're sorta like me, actually, but I, obviously, am the prettier one, now aren't I?" The Organization member had intended on scaring this girl and letting her heart get taken by the rest of the heartless in this castle but something about this girl made Axel...happy and light even without a heart.

At his sarcasm, Hikari laughed and then fell back to her knees with her body leaned against the wall still. This caused a light scowl to appear on the Nobody's brow. He snapped his fingers and another portal had appeared behind him. "Hey, kid'do, come on. You're hurt and I have the stuff to heal 'ya." He offered while staring down at the girl, but her focus was on the unconscious ninja. "What about Yuffie? I can't just leave her here for another heartless to get her." _Snap_. More of those nobodies had appeared and they were surrounding the girl. "Tell 'ya what, since you laughed at my jokes I'll keep her safe 'till she wakes up. Alright?" Still, Hikari's gaze was on her friend for a while longer not wanting to leave her. But then Hikari realized something.

_'Is this the beginning of the truth that I want..? Will Axel take me someone I'm suppose to go?'_

"Fine. I guess I'll go with you." And with that, Hikari crawled into the portal and was followed by Axel.

* * *

_Thinking back, I was so ignorant and selfish with my own yearn of the truth I wanted._

_I never got to say goodbye to Leon or Yuffie. I wasn't even sure if I was coming back._

_But what is done is done and I can't change that now. Though my choice was a good one._

_I still wish I was able to see their reaction of my sudden absence._

_Maybe that was a good enough reason to keep me there._

_To know people actually cared for me to be with them._

* * *

**One Hour Later:**

"Yuffie!" Leon had finished the heartless outside and he was a bit tired but once he saw the Nobodies surrounding the ninja the brunette ran to her and readied himself to swing at them. But once he was close enough they had disappeared. "The hell were Nobodies doing here?" Pushing that aside, the gunblade wielder dropped to his knees and shook the girl's body gently. After a few shakes, a cough was forced from her throat and Yuffie inhaled deeply, then opened her eyes. "Squall?"

"Are you alright? Where's Hikari?" Yuffie sat up with the held of her comrade and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm fin—Hikari!" Yuffie got up a bit too quickly, she was dizzy at first, but she began to run to the place where the ninja was suppose to take her friend. Leon followed close behind her and the two impatiently pushed the doors open to the office that once belonged to Ansem...She wasn't there. The raven haired girl sank to her knees and felt tears swell up in her eyes. "The heartless...they must have taken her heart..."

Little did they know that she was just staring her own journey where paths would be crossed, memories would be created, love will form, old friends will appear, and the end will be the start of something new.

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**EmmaClark96: You think so? Wow, thank you very much~ I am actually very horrible with righting the first chapter because I usually can't get the hook right but...thank you! ^-^ **

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**Riilustra -Your Sweetest SIN: The world many never know the word to describe the way glass sounds as it shatters x3 Thanks~ But I'm just letting you know right now that I don't think this is good considering it's written by...me. Hikari is pronounced the HI is the 'hi' in hit, the KA as the 'ca' in car, and the RI as 're' in replay. Hope that helps~! Oh trust me I plan on making her fairly human with flaws and fears and stuffs but strong enough to hold her own ;P Thanks it mean a lot :***

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**FQ Cheese: Wow really? Thank you! I didn't actually think I'd be good enough to get someone hooked but...ah! Thanks a lot! x3 **

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**A/N:::; **

**Well this next chapter was like...ahhh. I typed like three different scenarios, one was she started out in Twilight Town and she somehow got to Radiant Garden, the other was like starting out with her life in...somewhere (I'd spoil it because it happens next) and then a brief summary of her life in Radiant Garden but I wanted to show how her relationships with the people there were so that (insert spoiler here) would be more emotional. But yeah I hope you guys liked it.**

**What was your favorite part? Can you guess what's going to happen next? Does Axel have something planned for her or is he sincerely being nice to her? Will something go wrong with Radiant Garden? Let me know~!**

**Thanks**


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